Lise Olsenhttp://www.chron.com/author/lise-olsen/
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/OSHA-labels-DuPont-a-severe-violator-after-four-6375592.php
article6375592
The nation's top workplace health agency announced Thursday that it has placed chemical giant DuPont on its 'severe violator list' for problems uncovered in inspections conducted after four workers were killed in a massive gas release at its La Porte plant Nov. 15.

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration had already proposed in May to fine DuPont $99,000 for violations related to the fatalities and failures that led to a leak of 23,000 pounds of the toxic methyl mercaptan from a towering pesticide unit on one corner of plant property. On Thursday, the agency proposed adding another $273,000 penalties for additional violations found in another inspection in January that delved into other operations that contain huge stores of hazardous toxics inside the same chemical complex.

"DuPont promotes itself as having a 'world-class safety' culture and even markets its safety expertise to other employers, but these four preventable workplace deaths and the very serious hazards we uncovered at this facility are evidence of a failed safety program," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels in a press release.

The latest investigation is part of a national probe of DuPont facilities that OSHA is now conducting in the aftermath of the November accident - the deadliest at any U.S. chemical plant in more than a decade. On Nov. 15, massive amounts of a toxic called methyl mercaptan leaked into a building, killing operator Crystle Wise and supervisor Wade Baker as well as brothers Gilbert Manuel "Gibby" and Robert Tisnado, who perished in attempts to rescue the others.

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Thu, 9 Jul 2015 17:25:29 UThttp://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Humble-man-sentenced-to-28-years-for-real-estate-6295407.php
article6295407
Calvin Remo, described by Harris County prosecutor Valerie Turner as a player in one of the biggest deed scam fraud schemes in Harris County history, was sentenced to 28 years for real estate theft this week. The forged deed used to fool the Puentes was part of a series of interrelated criminal prosecutions begun back in 2008 by Turner, of the Harris County district attorney's consumer protection division. Gladden said Remo never knew that he was wanted on a 2008 felony theft warrant until he went to renew his driver's license in 2012 and was arrested by a state trooper. Testimony in the trial, records in other criminal cases as well as a civil lawsuit filed by the Texas Attorney General's Office accused Remo and Solomon of being part of a larger group of Houstonians who used bogus deeds to steal dozens of properties in different mostly African-American Houston neighborhoods. There have been so many different organized real estate theft rings in Harris County involving forged deeds that both the Harris County district attorney and the Harris County clerk asked for authorization from the legislature this year to require anyone who records a property sale by deed to present identification that county officials can track in a separate log. ]]>
Fri, 29 May 2015 23:20:47 UThttp://www.chron.com/houston/article/OSHA-cites-DuPont-for-violations-in-quadruple-6264000.php
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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited DuPont Thursday for 11 violations and identified scores of upgrades that DuPont must undertake in response to a quadruple fatality accident at a pesticide unit inside the company's LaPorte plant in November 2014.

OSHA faulted DuPont for failing to prevent all four deaths and proposed fines of $99,000, according its citation.

"Four people lost their lives and their families lost loved ones because DuPont did not have proper safety procedures in place," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels. "Had the company assessed the dangers involved, or trained their employees on what to do if the ventilation system stopped working, they might have had a chance."

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Thu, 14 May 2015 19:09:24 UThttp://www.chron.com/about/article/Baku-conference-subject-of-congressional-6261386.php
article6261386
WASHINGTON – The House Ethics committee has opened a formal investigation into allegations that the state-owned oil company of Azerbaijan funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars through two Houston-based non-profit corporations to fund the foreign travel of ten U.S. House members, including four from Texas, according to Congressional officials who confirmed the probe in interviews with the Houston Chronicle.

The federal probe comes after a Houston Chronicle report last year on the company's role in an elaborate energy conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, attended by south Texas Democrats Sheila Jackson Lee, Ted Poe, Ruben Hinojosa and Steve Stockman, who has since left Congress as well as other Congressman and 35 staff members.

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Wed, 13 May 2015 19:52:26 UThttp://www.chron.com/national/article/New-Map-shows-Worker-Fatalities-Nationwide-6236304.php
article6236304
Every year, more than 4,000 workers are killed nationwide - about 500 die in Texas. This week, in a push to personalize that loss, a group of researchers created a nationwide map of workers' deaths. The interactive map shows the individual stories of workers, including the four DuPont employees killed in a gas leak in La Porte and of oil workers fatally injured, as well as construction workers who died. ]]>
Fri, 1 May 2015 17:54:58 UThttp://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Bone-detectives-need-clues-to-solve-cold-cases-6217089.php
article6217089